Apparatus for treating web material



Jan. 31, 1961 KUNlHARU NAsU ET AL 2,969,664

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WEB MATERIAL Filed NOV. 19, 1958 INVENTORS.- /vsz BY /vu w we Unire States G l APPARATUS FOR TREATING WEB MATERIAL Knniharu Nasu and Susumu Niwa, Wakayama-ken,

Japan, assignors to Salido Iron Works Co., Ltd., Wakayama-ken, Japan Filed Nov. 19, 1958, Ser. No. 774,908

Claims priority, application Japan Jan. 5, 1958 6 Claims. (Cl. 68-178) The present invention relates to treatment apparatus for web material such as cloth, fabric or the like and more particularly to a continuous shifting apparatus for treating and accumulating fabric or web material in ply formation during such treatment.

It is one of the important objects of the invention to provide means for facilitating the treatment of cloth in a tank for relatively long periods of time and in a ply formation without adversely affecting the quality of the cloth by having too great a weight applied on the lower plies of cloth by the plies thereabove.

It is another object of the present invention to provide means affording continuous treatment of textile or cellulosic material at full width within a treatment chamber and without imparting to said material any harmful effects.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide means conducive to a very eicient construction of a continuously operating treatment plant for web and like elongated cellulosic materials which during treatment steps require a predetermined period of time of storage during which the respective material is accumulated in plies, thereby saving space for machinery, but nevertheless to maintain continuity in advancing the material and without interrupting the treatment thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to provide means contributing to a highly economical and efficacious treatment plant for fabrics and like elongated web material in which same is subjected to scouring, bleaching, drying, cleansing and similar operations which require a continuous treatment. but intermittent storing or accumulation of the material while the continuous feed and discharge of the material from the treatment plant remains unaltered.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide means accelerating the treatment of material of the hereinabove mentioned type notwithstanding the fact that the material to be treated is first impregnated, thereafter guided through squeezing and feeding rollers along a plurality of chambers and further through an intermediate chamber in which the material is to be accumulated and simultaneously advanced in predetermined stages and intervals and without disturbing or retarding the feed and discharge of the material with respect to the apparatus through which it is guided.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, reference being had to the accompanying drawing which shows an apparatus for carrying out various operational steps in the treatment of a fabric or cloth in accordance with the invention.

. In thedrawing:

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view and drawn to an enlarged scale illustrating the turnstile means utilized in the invention;

2,969,664 Patented Jan. 31, 1961 Fig. 3 a fragmentary sectional View drawn to an enlarged scale, showing a detail of the apparatus of Fig. l.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, there is disclosed an apparatus 1 comprising a pre-treatment tank 1a in which a suitable liquid 1b is contained. This liquid may be an impregnating agent of any known composition. A material 9 is introduced into the tank la through a suitable closable slot 1c and is then conducted over guide rollers 1d in any suitable manner. Thereafter, the material 9 is fed through a pair of suitably driven feed and squeezing rollers 1e, then through an auxiliary chamber 1f and arrives via a pair of feed rollers 7 at the top of the tank 12.

The material, such as a cellulosic web or fabric material including cloth, is then oscilla-ted back and forth via a suitable mechanism (not shown) by means of rollers 7a in the direction of arrows A into the tank 12, in which the material is folded in plies at 9a which come to rest on paddles of suitable pairs of advancing devices 5a, 5b; 5c, 5d; and 5e, 5f which are accommodated in three outwardly bulging compartments generally designated by numeral 2, as more clearly seen in Fig. 1.

As can be visualized from Figs. 1 and 3 the material accumulated in plies 9a temporarily rests on retaining or turnstile means including a iirst pair of opposed devicesy 5a, 5b which are rotatable about their axes on shafts 4 and are turnstile shaped either controlled in movement by outer drive means, such as a motor or, if desired, automatically in accordance with the weight of the fabric or like material which is folded in plies.

From devices 5a, 5b, the material is further fed and then retained on succeeding devices 5c, 5d until the respective plies of material arrive at plates 5e, 5f of the succeeding advancing devices below devices 5c, 5d. Each advancing device is supported by a shaft 4 on which respective rods or plates 5g and 5h arranged in turnstile fashion are mounted for rotation.

As can be further seen from Fig. 2 the aforesaid rods 5g and 5h are arranged in spaced relationship with respect to each other and the shafts 4 and project through suitable openings 3a, 3b of opposite walls 2a, 2b of the tank 12.

At the bottom of tank 12 are pairs of guide rollers 8, 13. Wash tanks 14, 15 having suitable sets of guide rollers 17, 18 therein as well as sets of squeeze or drying rollers 19, 20, respectively, are provided.

The operation of the invention is as follows:

The web material 9 is fed into the tank 12 through guide rollers 7 and is oscillated and shaken down by the shaking means. Then the cloth is piled up on the uppermost cloth receiving devices 5a, 5b and when the cloth on the plates reach a definite quantity (maximum quantity of the cloth which can be ypiled up between each receiving plate), the respective rotary shafts 4 are rotated by the driving means. Then the cloth receiving plates or rods Sa, 5b are also rotated and the piled cloth mounted thereon is lowered by' gravityfand is laid on the cloth receiving plates of next lower devices 5c, 5d. These motions are stopped at the position where the cloth receiving plates 5g, 5h resume their horizontal positions by half revolution of the rotary shafts 4.

Thus, at the moment when the cloth receiving plates 5g, 5h are rotating and the piled cloth thereon is shifting downwards, the driving for guide rollers 7 and the shaking means is not stopped and continuous feeding of cloth into the tank 12 is maintained. Therefore, when the cloth receivingrplates 5g, 5h rotate and resume their horizontal positions, the cloth will begin to pile up on the plates again. When the cloth is again piled in a definite quantity, the plates rotate and the cloth is lowered and shifted to the second stage, as described above. Then the cloth on 3 the second stage is shifted to the third stage by the aforementioned operations. These operations are repeatedly continued and the cloth is successively and continuously forwarded onto lower cloth. receiving plates.

Thus, the cloth gradually shifted downwards will be nally entered into the solution 6 maintained at any desiredv level in the tank 12 and the cloth is dipped in the solution of water or other liquid. While the cloth is not completely sunk but iioating on the liquid surface, the lower end of the cloth is successively pulled downwards and taken out of the vessel through the guide rollers 8 which are provided at the bottom of the tank 12 to be' shifted to next process such as washing in tanks 14, 15.

The cloth will be congested in the tank 12 for fairly long periods if desired. The time in the tank 12 can be optionally controlled by adjusting the quantity of cloth piled up in thel tank and the speed byV which the cloth is taken out of the vessel.v

The cloth is never cut on the way, and feeding and removal of the cloth need never be discontinued, but the shifting thereof can be operated continuously, so that not only is there an increased efficiency, but also the quality of the cloth is made uniform and excellent goods are obtained.

In this process, the cloth piled in the tank will never be exposed to any excessive pressure by its own Weight, so that there is no fear that the cloth is intensely pressed when in a folded up or plied condition, and during treatment, the tension imposed on the cloth can be made as small as possible.

As the cloth can be filled in the tank substantially taking up all available space, the tank can be made relatively small to accommodate a given length of cloth for a given period of time. Therefore, a large space is not necessary to install this apparatus and cost of installation thereof may be very economical.

Thus it can be seen that there has been provided continuous shifting apparatus for cloth by comprising a tank 12 having cloth feeding rollers and a shaking means are provided on the upper part of the tank 12, both sides of the tank 12 being provided with one or more pairs of rotary shafts 4.

On the shafts 4 are provided cloth receiving plates projecting within the tankk 12, and driving `means are provided so that the cloth receiving plates maintain their horizontal positions at intervals of half revolution of said rotary shafts and, when a deiinite quantity of cloth is piled on said plates, said rotary shafts will begin to rotate, thus the cloth waiting on the plates is forwarded from upper cloth receiving plates to lower ones successively into a solution in the lower part of the tank 12, and while the cloth is fioated on the surface of the solution, it is taken out of the tank through guide rollers.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. An apparatus for treating web material, comprising a tank, means for feeding web material into said tank and means for removing web material from said tank, and a plurality of vertically spaced turnstile means' extending into said tank forA supporting plies of said web material to reduce the weight of the web material on the lower plies` thereof in said tank, said tank having Vspaced side walls, said side walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means being rotatably mounted outwardly olf said tank and having portions extending through said s ots.

2. An apparatus for treating web material, comprising a tank, means for feeding web material into said tank and means for removing web material from said tank, and a plurality of vertically spaced turnstile means extending into said tank for supporting plies of said web material to reduce the weight of the web material on the lower plies thereof in said tank, said tank having spaced side Walls, pairs of compartments fixed to said side walls, said side walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means being rotatably mountedl in said compartments and having portions extending through said slots.

3. An apparatus for treating web material, comprising a tank, means for feeding web material into said tank and means for removing web material from said tank, a plurality of vertically spaced turnstile means extending into said tank for supporting plies of said web material to reduce the weight of the web material on the lower plies thereof in said tank, said tank having spaced side walls, a plurality of vertically spaced pairs of compartments fixed to said side walls, said side Walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means including shafts rotatably mounted in said compartments, and a plurality of members ixed to each of said shafts and extending through said slots.

4. An apparatus for continuous shifting and treating cloth comprising a tank, means at the top of said tank for feeding cloth in plies into said tank, means at the bottom of said tank for removing cloth from said tank, and turnstile means extending into said tank for supporting plies' of cloth for reducing the weight of the cloth on the lower plies of cloth in said tank, said tank having spaced side walls, said side walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means being rotatably mounted outwardly of said tank and having portions extending through said slots.

5. An apparatus for continuous shifting and treating cloth comprising a tank, means at the top of said tank for' feeding cloth in plies into said tank, means at the bottom of said tank for removing cloth from said tank, and a plurality of vertically spaced turnstile means extending into said tank for supporting plies of cloth for reducing the weight of the cloth on the lower plies of cloth in said tank, said tank having spaced side walls, vertically spaced pairs of compartments fixed to said side walls, said side walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means being rotatably mounted in said compartments and having portions extending through said slots.

6. An apparatus for continuous shifting and treating cloth comprising a tank, means at the top of said tank for feeding cloth in plies into said. tank, means at the bottom of said tank for removing cloth from said tank, a plurality of vertically spaced turnstile means extending into said tank for supporting plies of cloth for reducing the'weight of the cloth on the lower plies of cloth in said tank, said tank having spaced side walls, a plurality of vertically spaced pairs of compartments iixed to said side walls, said side walls having aligned slots therein, said turnstile means including shafts rotatably mounted in said compartments, and a plurality of members fixed to each o'f said shafts and extending through said slots.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,123,1381 Palmer Dec. 29, 1914 1,246,993 Payet Nov. 20, 1917 2,503,817 Graham Apr. ll, 1950 2,521,440 Bannon Sept. 5, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 947,541 Germany A Aug. 16, 1956 

